8. We will just notice the worship of the CHARITES established in Crete and Sparta; first, as a fresh proof of the early religious connexion between those two countries,(1711) and as a sign of that hilarity and gladness which was the most beautiful feature of the religion of the Greeks. These goddesses were at Sparta called Cleta and Phaënna; their temple was on the road from the city to Amyclæ, on the river Tiasa.(1712) Allied to this was the worship of EROS, as practised by the Cretans and Spartans, with whom, before every battle, the most beautiful men assembled and sacrificed to that god:(1713) not as the great uniter of heaven and earth, but as awaking mutual esteem and affection, which produce that fear of the disapprobation of friends which is the noblest source of valour.(1714)
The most obscure, perhaps, of all the branches of religion whose origin we have to investigate is the worship of the DIOSCURI, or the sons of Zeus. It appears probable that it had a double source, viz., the heroic honours of the human Tyndaridæ, and the ancient Peloponnesian worship of the great gods or Cabiri; and in process of time the attributes of the latter seem by poetry and tradition to have been transferred to the former, viz., the name of the sons of Zeus, the birth from an egg, and the egg-shaped caps, the alternation of life and death, the dominion over the winds and the waves. As belonging to their worship at Sparta I may mention the ancient images called δόκανα, two upright beams with two others laid across them transversely;(1715) the custom in military expeditions of taking either one or both of the statues of the Dioscuri according as one or both kings went with the army;(1716) which places the Tyndaridæ in the light of gods of war; and the belief that they often appeared as assistants in time of need, or even merely as friendly guests,(1717) which distinguishes them from most other heroes. Upon the whole we know that the Dorians found the worship and mythology of the Tyndaridæ established at Amyclæ, Therapne, Pephnos, and other places; and they adopted it, without caring to preserve its original form and meaning; rather, indeed, attempting to give to the worship of the sons of Tyndareus a _military_ and _political_ reference.